Chicago Wants Its No. 2 Spot Back

It goes without saying that Orlando and Chicago don't stand a chance of surpassing Las Vegas as the leading host city of Tradeshow Week 200 shows, at least not any time soon. Sin City has 45 shows, or 22.5 percent of the TSW 200 market share.

But on this year's list Orlando, with 20 of the top 2006 shows, and Chicago, close behind with 18, are duking it out for second place.

Chicago is clearly within range of grabbing the No. 2 spot and doing everything possible to get there.

On Aug. 2, McCormick Place unveiled its new West building with 470,000 square feet of exhibit space and 250,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, bringing the McCormick campus' total exhibit space to 2.7 million sq. ft.

Eighty shows, many of them for the medical sector, are already booked in the new facility, and there are plenty of TSW 200 shows that could easily fit there.

Exhibit space isn't the problem — hotel rooms are. With only one hotel next door, the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, and the rest of the convention room inventory located downtown (an approximate eight-minute ride away on dedicated bus lanes), the city needs more rooms nearby.

McCormick Place's owner, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, is a few weeks away from releasing an RFP to build 600 more rooms on top of the existing hotel's parking structure, according to Juan Ochoa, the authority's CEO.

"The No. 1 reason is to increase the amount of rooms in the destination," he said. "One of the issues the CCTB (Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau) has is blocks of rooms for existing customers. It's a small dent, but it will add inventory."

The hotel is an important financial asset. Ochoa added, "The existing hotel is a very profitable property. It's important because the authority's budget is subsidized by 2.5 percent. It's a significant revenue source bringing in $18 to $20 million a year."

He also said he didn't want the project to cost more than $150 million.

You'd think a new building and hotel expansion would be enough to give the city an edge, but the MPEA might go for even more.

There's just one block of undeveloped land left around McCormick Place, adjacent to the West building. It's privately owned but, according to Ochoa, authority board members have recently been discussing the possibility of taking over the block, even if the owner is not interested in selling.

"It's the only block in the area that can be taken by eminent domain," he said. "It's an issue of take now or pay later."

Ochoa said for the time being the plan is just in the concept phase, and it's not even certain that a hotel would be the best idea for the block. "Depending on the budget, it could just be surface parking," he added.

Though Ochoa was uncertain of exactly when, he said the decision about taking the block could be something that the board voted on in the near future.

In the meantime, Orlando isn't just sitting around waiting for Chicago to catch up. It, too, is working on more hotel rooms, in its case near the Orange County Convention Center.

Hilton Hotels, Apollo Real Estate Advisors and Rida Development broke ground on a new 1,400-room anchor hotel for the center in May. Hilton will manage the hotel with a minority ownership interest, while Apollo and Rida will have majority ownership of the hotel.

The $380 million 18-story property, scheduled to open in the summer of 2009, will sit on 24 acres and be connected to the center by a skybridge.

It will have 130,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, including a 50,000 sq. ft. grand ballroom, a 30,000 sq. ft. junior ballroom and 38 meeting rooms.

In an OCCC announcement of the groundbreaking, Jeff Diskin, senior vice president of Hilton brand management for Hilton Hotels, said, "We are very excited to bring this new and contemporary Hilton to Orlando's Orange County Convention Center and to help fill the need for high-end hotel rooms in the area."